Cold Outside
by turbomagnus
Summary: Naruto draws Hinata in the Third Test Prelims and the match proceeds in an... interesting fashion.


Author's Note: Part of an experimental project to write at least one short every day for the next year. We'll see if I actually manage to meet my goal. This is The 365 Project, 3 January.

Disclaimer: "Naruto" is the creation and property of Kishimoto and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

Naruto draws Hinata in the Third Test Prelims and the match proceeds in an... interesting fashion.

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"Cold Outside"  
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

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"First match of the Chuunin Exam preliminaries..." Hayate watched the board and waited until the names appeared, "Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Hinata!"

"Guess they're going to get the losers out of the way early," Sasuke sneered.

"They can't be," Naruto retorted, "They didn't call your name."

"Uzumaki and Hyuuga to the floor," Hayate repeated loudly.

"Hn, go get yourself beat, loser," Sasuke edicted to his teammate, "Not that the weak Hyuuga's any better."

Naruto noticed Hinata beginning to shake at those words and glared at the 'Last Uchiha'.

"Eh, don't listen to that jerk, Hinata. He wants everyone to feel sorry for themselves just 'cause he's so busy doing it himself," Naruto said to cheer her up, "You do your best, Hinata, and I will too!"

The blonde just couldn't figure out why that seemed to make her so mad that she turned red and began to rapidly tap her fingers together, he was just trying to make her feel better. Maybe it was Sasuke she was mad with...

Naruto shook his head at that, missing a disappointed look crossing Hinata's face as he thought about just how small the chance was of anyone in the village being mad with the oh-so-precious 'Last Uchiha'. As he walked down the steps and into the arena, Naruto thought and mentally fumed. It hadn't been hard for Naruto to figure out that Itachi was the weasel-masked ANBU he had met sometimes. For one thing, the weasel had disappeared the same time Itachi had killed his clan and left the village and for another, it was the guy's name, which was dumb considering that ANBU identities were supposed to be secret and he picked a mask that was his own name. At least it wasn't like Kakashi having the same haircut as the Dog ANBU that no one else in the village had... but sometimes, even if he was an S-Class criminal, Naruto wanted to kick Itachi in the shins for not doing something to keep his brother from ending up such a jerk. It just made Naruto so mad...

And when Naruto got mad, he got creative. This time, he decided to take this time on this grandest of all stages - second only to the finals, of course - to play a prank on his opponent and everyone watching. Like any true prankster or entertainer, he loved a captive audience. He was going to show them all what he could do.

"Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Hinata... ready? Fight!" Hayate announced before taking a step back out of the way.

"Don't you think it's kind of cold, Hinata?" Naruto asked with a foxish grin.

"Ano..." Hinata poked her fingers together, trying not to blush, "I actually think you're rather - it's rather hot, Naruto-kun."

Fortunately for the girl and her secret crush, Naruto didn't notice the slip she made. The fact that he didn't actually made some of the onlookers wonder if he could really be that dense without it being an act.

"You're sure you think it's hot?" Naruto asked again.

"You're - it's really hot, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered, making some of the people sure that Naruto had to be faking being an idiot, nobody could miss the same slip made twice in a row, they were sure.

"Well, if it's not cold, I know how to fix it... Hyoton: Haku's Memory no jutsu," Naruto announced running through a series of a handseals quickly, causing snow to begin to fall inside the arena.

Up on the stands, Asuma turned to look at Naruto's Jounin-instructor in surprise, "I though Hyoton was a bloodline in Mist before their Civil War... How did he do that?"

"Um..." Kakashi eye-smiled, "I don't know. I know he met someone with that bloodline on our mission to Wave... maybe she taught him how to do it?"

Asuma rolled his eyes at the ridiculous response from the 'Copy-Nin' whose own eye proved that bloodlines couldn't just be transplanted or taught like that. While this exchange was taking place, the floor of the arena had quickly been covered by a good two-inch thick layer of snow. To the people in the stands, it looked as though Naruto was popping his fingers and stretching...

But Hinata felt something come over her, as though she were in a genjutsu - but she was sure Naruto had never learned any genjutsus - and she began to sing in a breathless voice, "I really can't stay."

Naruto walked up to her, trailing footprints across the fresh-fallen snow, "Baby, it's cold outside."

The fact that he was moving closer to her cause Hinata to move backwards away from the blonde as whatever was controlling her kept her singing, "I've got to go away."

Naruto knelt to run his fingers through the snow, shaking his head before looking up at Hinata and repeating, "Baby, it's cold outside."

"This evening has been so very nice," Hinata sang, beginning to go along with whatever was controlling her, trying not to think of ways that an evening with Naruto could be 'so very nice'.

Naruto didn't stand up, instead he reached out and took one of the hands that were hanging at Hinata's sides, holding it in both of his as he sang over her line, "I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice."

The fear Hinata suddenly felt of how certain people would react played well with the next line she found herself singing, "My clan will start to worry."

Naruto stood up without releasing her hand, "Beautiful, what's your hurry?"

That left Hinata trying not to faint at the thought of him calling her 'beautiful', "And my father will be pacing the floor."

"Just listen to that fireplace roar."

Hinata looked around and didn't see a fire, much less a fireplace, wondering what that had to do with anything... unless whatever had her had Naruto as well, "Really, I'd better scurry."

Naruto ran a thumb across Hinata's knuckles, "Beautiful, please don't hurry."

He had said it again, now Hinata didn't care something was controlling her, if she had any reason to resist before, Naruto calling her 'beautiful' twice dealt with them completely. She gave herself over to the song and joyfully sang out, "Maybe just a half-a-drink more."

"Put some records on while I pour," Naruto grinned again as he led the girl over to a table near the wall.

Up in the stands, it was now Kurenai who had a question for the other genin's teacher, "Where did that table come from?"

"I don't know that either," Kakashi answered without looking away from his book.

"Do you know anything about your own student?" Kurenai demanded.

"Hm, did you say something?"

Asuma and Gai quickly found themselves having to grab the red-eyed Jounin's wrists to keep her from throttling the other man.

Back on the ground, Hinata was now holding a cup in her hands, "What the neighbors might think..."

"Baby, it's bad out there," Naruto smiled and took a sip from his own cup.

Following his lead, Hinata took a sip of her own drink and then frowned, "Say, what's in this drink?"

By this point, Naruto was grinning so widely that it was on the verge of being creepy-looking, "It's sure not ramen broth in there."

"I wish I knew how to break this spell," Hinata couldn't believe the song was actually stating her feelings after hearing that comment about ramen broth, no matter how much like Naruto it was.

Naruto's next words were so quiet that no one but the two of them could hear them, not even the proctor standing less than thirty feet away, "Your eyes are like starlight now."

Hinata was now having to fight to keep from hyperventilating, "I ought to say 'no, no, no, sir'..."

"Mind if I move in closer?" Naruto teased, stepping forward until he was well-within her personal space and, if she had been able to fight, the 'range of her divination'.

"At least I can say that I tried..." Hinata knew as she sang the words that the problem was that she wasn't entirely sure what it was it would be said she tried.

The blonde boy put a pout on his face, "What's the point in hurting my pride?"

Hinata began to shake her head rapidly, "I really can't stay..."

"Oh, baby, don't hold out..." Naruto sang as he scooped up a handful of snow and dumped it into her cup, "Baby, it's cold outside."

Carefully, he took her glass and his and sat them back onto the table before leaning in close and placing a gentle kiss to her cheek. In a way true to her personal fashion - she promptly blushed and fainted to the ground.

Hayate coughed - nervously this time instead of due to his illness - because never before had a fight in the Chuunin Exams ended in such a way, "Um... Winner, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Hinata suddenly sat up, "Not hardly!"

Naruto started to back away nervously, "Maybe I should go."

Hinata shook her head slowly, a frightening expression on her face that, strangely enough, reminded Naruto of how he felt when he first saw Ichiraku's when he came back from his first long mission out of the village, and she gestured to the snowfall he had created in the arena, "But, it's cold outside."

"What if I said 'no'?" Naruto asked as he kept backing away.

"You know it's cold outside," Hinata reminded him.

"This isn't how it's supposed to work," Naruto claimed, still moving backwards and trying to keep his distance from the kunoichi stalking him, "It should have stopped by now."

Unfortunately for the blonde, despite not meeting her father's expectations, Hinata's Gentle Fist training had helped her enough that she was able to grab the front of his jacket before he could take another step back, "I'm lucky that you dropped in."

Naruto carefully tried to remove her hand, but she had a death-grip on his jacket, meaning that he couldn't move without taking her with him, so he decided to try something he knew he wasn't good at... He was going to try and talk to her, "Your teacher will be suspicious."

"Mm... Your lips look delicious," Hinata's tongue darted out and gave her own lips the tinest of licks.

"Your cousin'll put me through a door!" Naruto pleaded

Hinata's eyes drifted up to her prey's own, so blue, "...Like waves upon a tropical shore."

"The villager's minds are vicious," Naruto exclaimed, not prepared for what came next.

Hinata grabbed the other side of the front of Naruto's jacket with her other hand and used her grip on it as leverage to pull herself to him, forcefully slamming her lips against his, holding them there for at least a half-minute before pulling back with an audible pop as they seperated. Closing her eyes in bliss, Hinata moaned out, "Mm... your lips _are_ delicious."

"That's it, I'm damned..." Naruto wailed as Hinata released his jacket and hugged herself.

"The thrill when you touched my hand.," Hinata moaned softly to herself.

"Hinata, don't you see..." Naruto began, only to be cut off as her eyes shot open and she looked at him.

"How can you do this thing to me?"

Naruto wasn't even sure what 'this thing' was, he didn't know, but he did know one thing, "There's bound to be talk tomorrow..."

"It'd be my life-long sorrow..." Hinata started with big doe eyes as she unzipped her jacket, causing Naruto to feel like his own eyes were about to pop out of his head at how well-developed she was for her age.

"At least I can say that I tried..." He stammered, trying not to stare at the uncovered sight.

"...if you caught pneumonia and died," The Hyuuga heiress finished as she slid her jacket off her shoulders and down her arms, catching the sleeves in her hands as it hung behind her while she approached Naruto.

"I really can't stay..." Now he was starting to get nervous, that look in her eyes... really was starting to make him nervous. She knew it was all supposed to be a prank, right? Kissing him like that and this, it wasn't what was supposed to happen.

"Get over that hold-out," She finally demanded, bringing her jacket up and over her head and his head, down behind him and using it to pull him closer to her.

"I know that song too, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, her breath hot against his skin, causing him to gulp as she took a step forward, forcing him to take a step back and find himself pinned between her and the wall, "Are you ready to give up?"

Those words were the proverbial 'red flag to a bull', "Uzumaki Naruto _never _gives up!"

Now he reached behind his head and grabbed her wrists, forcing her to release her jacket as he lift her arms over the heads and reversed their positions so that now she was the one pinned to the wall. Grinning foxily, Naruto warned her, "Last chance, Hinata."

He wasn't prepared for her response to be for her to reach out her led and begin rubbing the back of his own with her heel. His lips came crashing down on her's in a kiss that showed no sign of stopping.

"How do we judge this one?" Hayate asked into his radio, then listened to the answer, "Yes, sir... Your attention, please! This match has been declared inconclusive and as such both competitors will face other opponents later in the preliminaries... now could someone either get them out of my arena or get a water jutsu on those two? And clean up all this snow!"

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Author's Note: Special thanks go out to Homer & Jethro, June Carter, Dolly Parton, Martina McBride, Rod Stewart, Dean Martin, She & Him, and especially Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews - all of whom have performed versions of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" that I listened to while writing this 365 Project story. Especially Tom and Cerys, whose video for the song also helped provide a certain inspiration for the events of the story.

Although, this is the closest I've come to failing a 365 story and it's only the third... it didn't want to stay short, it just kept growing and it took me all day... I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually be able to make the Project work...


End file.
